Start the week #63

Greetings!

In this week’s Start The Week I look at books, home refurbishments, writers’ bravery and other interesting stuff. While reading, do bear in mind today’s date. But enough of this persiflage! On with the newsletter.

Terry

Practice makes perfect, or at least less imperfect

As regular readers of Eclecticism will know, I am in the process of learning to play the saxophone. One of several YouTube channels I subscribe to in this regard is Jay Metcalf's Better Sax. A few days ago I watched a video in which he said that the most difficult thing for a saxophone learner to do is open the case and pick up the instrument every day. At first I thought, "Eh?", but when I thought about it, I realised that he’s right. I find it hard sometimes. The reason, leaving aside the fact that for a few weeks I was coughing a lot of the time, is, I think, to do with confidence. As I said to the tutor of the course I'm doing, there's a big gap between how I should like to sound, how I imagine myself sounding, and how I do sound. Not picking up the sax is a great way of avoiding confronting that fact, and the concomitant fact that, to close that gap, I need to practise, practise, practise, deal with the disappointment that arises from, sometimes, sounding like a cat having a fight, listen, listen, listen, and so on.

And then I thought, it's the same in writing, and isn't it amazing that we who write will face a blank sheet of paper every day or week, or whatever, and then, with a bit of luck, produce something a little while later. If you think about it, that takes an astonishing amount of bravery, because you might have to face the fact that what you've written isn't as good as you hoped it would be (in your opinion). And then to publish it, so that other people can read it, warts and all. There are many people who assure us that "one of these days" I shall write something -- but we actually do so. I think we all deserve a huge pat on the back!

On that note, big congrats to

Christine Wolf

for seeing her debut book in print. What a wonderful achievement.

Books received

Here are a few of the books I’ve been sent for review recently, so I can’t say too much about them now: the arrangement I have with magazines is that they publish the review first¹ and I publish it afterwards. I’ll be talking about the time travel one in my forthcoming article delving into the time loop version of my ‘bang on the head’ story in the “Experiments in Style” series².

I’ll also be writing about 99 Variations on a Proof as part of a long-ish article about the ‘experiments in style’ series that I just mentioned. It’s a mathematical version of Queneau’s Exercises in Style, on which my own experiments series is based.

Adventures in Maps doesn’t come out until early June. It includes a wide range of journeys, such as a 15th century pilgrimage, the writing of Three Men in a Boat, Route 66 and even the moon landings.

Generative AI in Practice includes a section detailing a vast array of AI programs, including one that can build a website in response to a textual prompt. That’s quite timely because I’m writing an article for a different publication at the moment about AI in education. One of the questions that arises is: do kids really need to learn how to code? My stance has always been that very few people need to learn how to code, and from a particular point of view the existence of apps such as the one I just mentioned adds credence to that viewpoint.

The Language of Deception is an interesting, important and, frankly frightening delve into the world of deepfakes. Mind you, human error can still save the day, so to speak. A college used ChatGPT to generate a letter addressing the grief and trauma caused by a mass shooting. The college authorities might have saved themselves from a backlash had they not insterted the words “paraphrased from a response by ChatGPT”.

A Date with Language is a delightful book whcich contains a literary item for each day of the year. It even contains accounts of a couple of literary hoaxes that were perpetrated on April Fools Day/All Fools Day.

On the subject of books, I recently wrote in my letter to

Rebecca Holden

that much as I love the look of some of the classic editions of Jane Austen (et al), I prefer editions such as Penguins because of their copious notes. Well, it seems that you don’t have to make a choice now. I was browsing in Daunt Books recently and came across this beautiful cloth-bound edition of Emma:

Imagine my surprise when, on opening it, I discovered that it’s a Penguin edition, complete with all the notes I like. Incidentally, Rebecca will be replying to my letter on Wednesday. Rebecca wrote about Cadbury’s Creme Eggs. I am keeping off the Easter Eggs because I want to lose weight. So delighted am I with progress so far that I have sent my halo off for a professional polish.

Meeting other writers

Recently,

Kate Darracott

wrote about meeting other Substack writers in London. Those kind of meet-ups do little for me, I have to say. The last time I went to one was several years ago, when I attended a Fellows networking event at the Royal Society of Arts. I was there for a total of fifteen minutes before I escaped to a local cafe and bookshop. But I do enjoy meeting other writers on a one-to-one basis, so I was delighted to meet

Anu Prabhala

in person a few days ago. She writes the very readable and profound Imperfectly Perfect Substack.

From left to right: Elaine, Anu, Sahil, Sri, me, with St Paul’s Cathedral in the background — photo by a bloke just minding his own business before we accosted him

We had a great time, not just doing a touristy thing or two, but visiting Daunt Books and having a really long chat over lunch.

Incidentally, Kate mentioned a technique suggested by

Claire Venus

, which is to kick off the comments with a comment of your own. It seems a bit egocentric to me, but I’ll give it a go.

Inside Freedman Towers

I’ve mentioned before the disruption caused by having decorating done. I’m glad it’s only once every thirty years. Anyway, it’s finally completed. We had the whole of the downstairs converted into a replica of the Oval Room in the White House. It’s where we receive guests and make important decisions. We feel it adds a certain degree of gravitas when we are discussing matters of consequence with plumbers, electricians and neighbours.

Me in the Oval Room replica in our humble abode

Some videos

Whenever I see this Alvin Stardust one, I can’t help laughing at what someone said to me when it came out. I was at Liverpool University at the time, and was on the number 86 bus, in conversation with this lady about the previous night’s Top of the Pops offering, when she said to me, in her very thick Scouse accent, “He looks like he’s got rigor mortis.”³

I always feel a bit sad when I see this video. It was all such a time of love, peace and hope — it was illusory, but a nice illusion.

When I first heard this song, I thought “That is going to be a hit” — and I was right. It’s still great even after all these years. I’m not sure I’d like to be described as the heaviest person around, but still.

A puzzle

Finally, a little puzzle. The following story is based on a particular constraint; what is it?

I am now able, ready, almost willing. Moreover, hereafter, adventures -- exhilarating!

If you think you know, say in the comments.

It is, of course, an example of an Oulipo technique. The Oulipo, along with some interesting and different constraints, was featured in From playful to profound, by

Jeannine Ouellette

. Many thanks to Carissa, who writes the humorous

Good Humor by CK Steefel

, for mentioning my newsletter in the comments and for bringing this post to my attention.

Some more reading

Finally, a heartwarming and romantic article from

david roberts

: You had me at first glance

Thanks for reading.Please comment, subscribe, share or any two of them or even all three.

1. The technical way of expressing this is that I’ve granted them First British Serial Rights. If the magazines were US publications I’d have granted them First American Serial Rights.

2. If you’re not familiar with that series, I’ve been writing a different version of the same basic story each week (though I may change that to every two weeks). They’re not only enjoyable to read, but a great way of learning about writing techniques. So far I’ve published 64 here and written an additional 5, to be unveiled to the world in due course. Here’s the full index so far.

3. You can hear the dulcet tones of a Scouse accent right here: Scouse.